A pair of fresh faces entered the ISU wrestling lineup last weekend at the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas.

True freshman Dante Rodriguez and redshirt freshman Daniel Woiwor have been inserted into the starting lineup as the team aims to strengthen its performances at 141- and 157-pound weight classes.

Rodriguez had an up-and-down performance as he went 2-2 on the weekend, including a tech-fall loss against Ohio State’s top-ranked Logan Steiber and a win against No. 11-ranked Mark Hall from Minnesota. Rodriguez’s performance was pleasing to ISU coach Kevin Jackson.

“I’m happy with where he’s at and what he’s doing,” Jackson said. “He did fall back into a little bit of the true freshman mistakes, he made several mistakes in that second match that he loss, but I’m happy where his head is at and what he’s doing. He just needs to tighten down a few areas.”

While Jackson was happy with the 141-pounder’s weekend performance, Rodriguez called his performance “kind of iffy.”

Rodriguez just recently had his redshirt pulled for the season and said it has been an adjustment so far.

“It’s kind of crazy to come into college as a true freshman and start competing at this level,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez has faced off against a number of ranked opponents already this season. Battling against the high level of competition has been a challenge Rodriguez has welcomed.

“I’ve had some close matches with those kids that shows that I’ve been able to compete with those kids,” Rodriguez said. “I beat the No. 11 ranked kid, and he’s been highly ranked, highly recruited, and I’ve known his name for a while. So it’s pretty cool to be wrestling with these kids that have made a big name for themselves and beat some of these kids as well.”

Woiwor went 1-2 during the weekend with his lone win being by pin. It was Woiwor’s first action since the Harold Nichols Open back in early November and first matchup against top-level Division I talent.

“I was pretty disappointed with the way it ended up, but I mean it was my first real varsity competition, so maybe nerves had a little something to do with it,” Woiwor said. “But I definitely learned a lot and I have a lot to improve on going forward.”

Jackson was also disappointed with Woiwor’s performance throughout the tournament and hopes to see improvement from him going forward.

“A little disappointed,” Jackson said of Woiwor. “We’re better than that. He’s better than that. I did not expect that.

“He had an opportunity to step in and outperform his competitors at that weight class, and that didn’t happen.”

Both Rodriguez and Woiwor will wrestle again this weekend at a tournament at UNI with the goal of proving they deserve to keep their new starting spots. Rodriguez said he realizes he has to show why he deserves to stay in the lineup.

“My spot is not claimed,” Rodriguez said.

Both Rodriguez and Woiwor will look to prove they can get the job done at the 141- and 157-pound weight classes and cement their places in the Cyclone’s starting lineup.